After Bill Ritter was elected governor of Colorado in 2006, I was asked to be a member of the IT transition team.  We had about a month to review the current state of affairs with regard to broadband, the Colorado IT structure and strategy, and to recommend a CIO candidate. 

I’d never been on a transition team before so I found it to be an interesting experience.  I don’t remember the number of transition teams (I have the number 16 in my head) – they were all busy trying to collect, assimilate, and understand what existed, put together clear recommendations that the new Governor and his staff could build on, while trying to separate a bunch of signal from noise of the outgoing administration.

I was part of a group of about 30.  I knew nothing about broadband policy (which I later found out was in the extremely capable hands of Phil Weiser) so I focused my energy on the State of Colorado IT systems and on recommending a CIO.

Both turned out to be easy to deal with.  I was part of a task force that reviewed over 50 credible CIO applications, interviewed a dozen CIO candidates and had an easy choice in selecting Mike Locatis.  Mike had previously been the CIO of the City of Denver and had plenty of private sector experience; he stood out as a uniquely qualified candidate. 

Assessing the State of Colorado IT systems was equally straightforward – they were a disaster.  The entire IT organization was completely decentralized by agency.  Each agency had the equivalent of their own CIO that had purchasing authority up to $100,000.  The was minimal central planning and coordination, no purchasing leverage, and no integrated strategy across all the agencies.  I felt bad for the incumbent CIO – it was a classic case of all the downsides of decentralization with none of the benefits.  Oh – and this was written into the law so you couldn’t just reorganize the IT organization – the law actually had to be changed to centralize the State CIO’s authority.

We recommended the obvious – change the law to centralize everything under a single CIO.  Being government, this took a year, but it got done.  Then the real work began as Mike and his team went from talking about IT consolidation to actually doing it.

They’ve got a bunch of it under their belt and are now looking forward to the next wave of ideas around modernization of many of the IT systems and approaches.  Like most of the country, Colorado is working through their budget shortfalls to economic leverage on any level – including at the raw systems level – is a good thing.  Mike and his team recently put out Solicitation RFI-TK-003-09 which is an RFI for Transforming the State of Colorado’s Common/Shared IT Services.

As the cliche goes, you need to walk before you run; this RFI gives companies developing innovative Cloud Computing approaches (e.g. Google and Amazon) as well as numerous entrepreneurial companies an opportunity to get in front of Mike and his team to weigh in on the forward directions of the State of Colorado’s IT infrastructure.

Next week is the first annual entrepreneurship week at CU Boulder.  There is a full schedule of great events for anyone interested in entrepreneurship.

Monday 4/13: 11:30am – 2:00pm: Starting Companies at CU: Technology Entrepreneurship Luncheon @ University Memorial Center

Tuesday 4/14: 10:00am – 11:30am: Panel Discussion on Social Entrepreneurship @ University Memorial Center Room 247

Tuesday 4/14: 5:30pm – 8:30pm: Silicon Flatirons Center’s Entrepreneurial Mash-Up @ Dairy Center for the Arts

Wednesday, 4/15: 5:00pm: Feld-Weiser One-on-One: The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem @ Wittemeyer Courtroom, Wolf Law Building

Wednesday, 4/15: 6:00pm: Entrepreneurs Unplugged featuring Glenn Jones @ Wittemeyer Courtroom, Wolf Law Building

Thursday, 4/16: 3:00pm – 8:00pm: Putting The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Perspective @ Wittemeyer Courtroom, Wolf Law Building

Friday, 4/17: 9:00am – noon: CU New Venture Challenge Semifinals @ Atlas

Friday, 4/17: 2:00pm – 5:00pm: CU New Venture Challenge Finals and Post-Challenge Reception @ University Memorial Center

Also, if you are in Boulder for lunch on Tuesday, come by Spud Bros at the Corner of 10th and Pearl behind Pasta Jay’s between noon and 2:00pm.  I’ll be the “guest chef” (more like “guest spud slinger”); 50% of proceeds will go to The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County.

Anyone who has driven to DIA has seen the mysterious big blue horse.  Yes – it has special powers.  It has killed before (its creator – Luis Jimenez) and may kill again.

I’ve just joined the I am afraid of the big blue horse at DIA Facebook group.  Here’s one of the best quotes from the wall.

Approaching DIA, my heart began to thump. Summoning all my resolution, I gave my Suby half a score of kicks to the gas pedal in an attempt to hasten my journey. At just that moment a splash of blue caught my eye. In the dark shadow of the field, on the margin of the airport, I beheld something blue, so blue, and towering, a gigantic monster ready to pounce upon this weary traveler. "What are you" I whispered, and received no reply. Agitated, I repeated my question. Pushing the gas pedal, I closed my eyes and uttered an involuntary psalm. I opened my eyes. The shadow took shape, a huge horse with powerful frame, whose eyes burned red and followed me, keeping pace. I rounded the curve, bringing the relief of the giant against the sky and I was horror-struck on perceiving it was…art? ~ Jenn Bma (Boulder)

I am – in general – afraid of horses so it’s appropriate that I am fucking terrified of the Big Blue Horse.  I am so glad Facebook has provided me with a place to find some new friends.  Thanks Jill for pointing this out to me.

Congrats to all my friends at Kerpoof – it was announced a few weeks ago that Kerpoof was acquired by Disney.  Krista Marks – the CEO and co-founder – emailed me the Kerpoof mouse ears photo which inspired me to blog about them.  It’s another great example of a local Boulder software / Internet company that had a passion, made something happen, and had a great exit.

I met Krista and her co-founders at a CSIA event and then again while they were gearing up for the 2007 TechCrunch 40.  I gave them feedback on their presentation, started playing around with Kerpoof, and decided that Krista was a star.  They weren’t raising money at the time (they were self funded through consulting work they were doing while building out their service) so I gave them feedback whenever they asked and stayed close to them.  I encouraged Krista to have Kerpoof join the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado – which they did.

Last spring, Krista told me they had been approached by a large company that was interested in acquiring them.  She was looking for advice – both business and legal – on the deal.  I connected her with Mike Platt at Cooley – one of the best entrepreneurial M&A lawyers I’ve worked with.  I also provided friendly feedback to Krista and her partners during the process.  Mike turned out to be the perfect fit for them as a deal lawyer and helped them navigate an extended negotiation very gracefully.

The acquisition closed last fall, but Disney and Kerpoof wanted to do some integration before announcing it.  I’m glad the news is out – Krista can now wear her Mickey Mouse ears and PJ’s in public.  And I especially appreciate Kerpoof’s contributions – through the Entrepreneurs Foundation – to several local organizations, including the National Center for Women & Information Technology.

Oh – and keep being innovators!

I love everything about french fries.  And – much to my delight – Spud Bros. at 2010 10th Street in Boulder is the purveyor of possibly the best french fries on the planet.  They are even poets, having written a poem titled Ode to Spuds.

When I get my first no from Brad
I can count on French fries to take away the sad
When I can’t get tickets to Boulder Ignite
I go to Spud Bros. to get a bite.

Built up an appetite going up Sanitas for a hike
Coming down for some Chili Fries I like
When I’m in need of some WiFi
I know where to go for the Internet and a Fry

After a night out on the town
I head to Spud Bros.
Where everybody knows your name
and they’re always glad you came.

Thankfully the fries are better than the poetry.  And yes – the Brad they refer to c’est moi.

Are you a VP or C-level exec at a Boulder (or Denver) based startup?  Eric Marcoullier, the CEO of Gnip has created a Boulder Startup Exec Email List.  It’s open to people that fit the following criteria.

1. Funded company (at least some angel financing)
2. VPs and C-level folks
3. Any vertical market (not just tech / Internet)

Eric moved to Boulder from San Francisco last month and is getting deep in the startup scene here.  He promises that VCs will not be invited to participate in this list – I tried and was solidly rejected.

While the criteria don’t include “profitable companies that never received any financing”, I’d encourage anyone that is self-funded / bootstrapped that is generating over $500k of revenue a year to get involved also.

I’m always amused by articles that are headlined “Jobs outlook uncertain for 2009”.  No shit sherlock.

I was pleased, however, to learn that Boulder, Colorado is one of thirteen cities (“metropolitan areas”) out of 381 in the US that are actually growing. 

The cities that are growing are Boulder, CO.; Lafayette and Louisiana, LA; Bethesda, MD; Jacksonville, NC; Binghamton, NY; Oklahoma City; OK.; State College, PA.; and Brownsville, El Paso, Laredo, McAllen, and San Antonio, TX.

I get LA, but Brownsville, El Paso, Laredo, and McAllen?  Must have something to do with that electronic border fence thing.

An annual institution in Boulder occurred last week – the Boulder Chamber of Commerce Esprit Awards.  A bunch of my friends were winners this year and – since they were all nice enough to call me out for my contribution to them, I thought I’d reciprocate by congratulating them.

So, a big congrats to:

• Mike Platt at Cooley Godward
• Raj Bhargava at StillSecure
• Krista, Johnathan, Tom, and Brent at Kerpoof

Y’all are great – thanks for all of your hard work, vision, and contribution to the Boulder entrepreneurial scene.

I’ve lived in Boulder, Colorado since 1995.  Six months after Amy and I moved her, we realized this would be our home for the rest of our life.  When I moved here I had no expectation that I’d ever do any work here as most of my entrepreneurial and investing activity up to that point was in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle. 

Between 1996 and 2000 the Boulder software / Internet scene grew.  A lot.  The crash of the Internet bubble slowed things down some but they came roaring back starting in 2003.  Boulder is rocking today and – once again – there is way more demand for super amazing software developers than there is supply.

A bunch of local companies – including Aegis Analytical, EventVue, Filtrbox, Fuser, Gnip, HiveLive, Me.dium, Printfection, Rally Software, Return Path, and socialthing! – have gotten together to create a job fair on October 27-31. 

This is not your ordinary job fair.  If you think you are a rock star developer, apply here.  The top 100 will be chosen and flown out to Boulder – all expenses covered – to interview with all of the companies involved, get wined and diner (and hiked and biked) around Boulder. 

If you are really bold, stick around over the weekend and come to Defrag 2008 in downtown Denver and use the discount code foundry1 for a $300 discount.  I promise you that you’ll never think of Boulder/Denver the same way again.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the AEA survey that ranked Boulder as the #2 CyberCity in the US.  I suggested that this was misleading since #1 was "San Jose/Silicon Valley", which is not actually a city.  If you’d decomposed "San Jose/Silicon Valley" into the various cities that actually make up Silicon Valley, they would have been #1 through at least #5 and Boulder would have been #6.

Ever since I’m moved to Boulder in 1995, the "what do we need to do to be more like Silicon Valley" meme pops up ever regularly.  I’ve spent a lot of time in Silicon Valley, have lots of friends and colleagues there, and have made (and continue to make) lots of investments there.  It’s a special and unique place. 

Over the years, I’ve asserted that Colorado has no business trying to "be like" Silicon Valley.   There are lots of things that Colorado can learn from Silicon Valley and a lot of them are happening / being created in Boulder right now.  However, it’s a great example of the cliche of "applying best practices" (where Boulder is learning from and applying the best practices of Silicon Valley) rather than strict emulation.

This came up in an interview with me on ColoradoBizTV that just went up today. I have a three minute riff on why "Boulder, Denver, and Colorado in general ebbs and flows with Silicon Valley envy and that’s an error" and why "the Boulder entrepreneurial scene is as healthy as it’s ever been."